Wholemeal Maple Syrup Pancakes

I'm beginning to get back into the blog thing a little bit more now. Not on the post-once-a-day level, but even if I don't write mine, I read other people's and I have progressed to cooking recipes from blogs again.

I used to be mad keen on this, but I've been very busy in the last few months - we fled the country, I have new workesque responsibilities and stuff has been happening, all of which has taken up most of the time I used to spend blogging.

But today we are all at home on holiday and a certain someone sidled up to me and said "The Small One and I would really love it if you made pancakes". I instantly knew which recipe I would follow - I'd seen Niki's adaption of Nic's Wholemeal Pancakes ages ago and wanted to make them ever since.

I'm a bit out of the pancake making groove - the last ones I tried were probably Bill Grainger's Ricotta Hotcakes from Sydney Food, pre-pre-blog. Figman went through a full on pancake obsession at one point and we had them just about every day (with a jug of batter always in the fridge) so I felt quite justified in leaving them alone for a few years.

Niki's version is delightfully easy to make. It all came together so quickly I started to wonder why I didn't whip up a batch of these every weekend for breakfast. Then I stood at the stove and flipped batch after batch and remembered why. The cook gets none (well not if she wants to keep production going). I read about the sorts of households where pancakes are pre-cooked and kept warm in the oven until everyone sits down and eats them together, but this is clearly not my house. It is hard enough trying to keep a stack with melting butter in your grip long enough to take a photo without suggesting that everyone wait for their bounty any longer.

Figman was pestering me for orange juice - he grew up in some parallel universe where they coat pancakes in orange juice and sugar - what the? After I gave him his stack, I wandered into the lounge between flips. He was watching the Melbourne Cup and I began to ask if he wanted me to squeeze a fresh orange over his ... well over where his stack of four pancakes had been precisely 90 seconds ago. (Timing each pancake flip left me very certain of this!)

The wholemeal flour gives these pancakes a heavier, more substantial aspect and a chewiness that's not found with white. I was a little confused at one point when I checked the dry ingredients and thought "what, no sugar?". Wholemeal flour and no sugar is taking things a little far, even for me! But I re-read and the sweetening in these comes from the maple syrup - matching the sweetness in and atop the pancakes.


I've just remembered that I dropped batter from the second-last pancake onto the hob, so I must dash and clean it off before it sets - grrrrrr!

Update: Too late.